The Sherman Firefly was a medium tank used by the United Kingdom and some armoured formations of other Allies in the Second World War. It was based on the US M4 Sherman but was fitted with the more powerful British 76.2 mm (3.00 in) calibre 17-pounder anti-tank gun as its main weapon. Conceived as a stopgap until future British tank designs came into service, the Sherman Firefly became the most common vehicle mounting the 17-pounder in the war.
The British Army made extensive use of Sherman tanks, but they expected to have their own tank models developed soon, so the idea of mounting the 17-pounder in the Sherman was initially rejected. However, through the efforts of two persistent British officers, government reluctance was eventually overcome, and the Firefly went into production. This proved fortunate, as the Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger and Cruiser Mk VIII Cromwell tank designs experienced difficulties and delays.
After the problem of getting such a large gun to fit in the Sherman's turret was solved, the Firefly was put into production in early 1944, in time to equip the 21st Army Group, commanded by General Bernard Montgomery, for the Normandy landings. It soon became highly valued, as its gun could almost always penetrate the armour of the Panther and Tiger tanks it faced in Normandy, something no other British tank could reliably do.[2] Because the Firefly's barrel was visibly longer than that of a normal 75 mm Sherman, crews tried to countershade camouflage it so the tank would look like a regular Sherman from a distance. Between 2,100 and 2,200 were manufactured before production ended in 1945.
^Hunnicutt, R. (1978). Sherman: A History of the American Medium Tank. San Rafeal: Taurus Enterprises. p. 550. ISBN 978-0-89141-080-5.
^Milner, Marc, (2014) Stopping the Panzers, University of Kansas Press, 1
The ShermanFirefly was a medium tank used by the United Kingdom and some armoured formations of other Allies in the Second World War. It was based on...
British, who received a number of Shermans through Lend-Lease during the course of the war, producing the ShermanFirefly tank (armed with a powerful 17-pounder...
anti-tank work, the British refitted Shermans with a 76.2 mm Ordnance QF 17-pounder gun (as the ShermanFirefly). Some were fitted with a 105 mm gun to...
reduced armour. However, the extemporised 17-pounder ShermanFirefly conversion of the US-supplied Sherman proved easier to produce and, with delays in production...
Fireflies were deployed one per troop of four 75mm armed standard Shermans. The Germans learned to target Fireflies, so the gun barrel of the Firefly...
fitted to a Sherman, and orders for this ShermanFirefly were placed in 1943. By the time of the Normandy invasion, 340 ShermanFireflies were available...
Hart, Stephen (2007), ShermanFirefly vs Tiger, Duel 2, Osprey Publishing, ISBN 9781846031502 Hayward, Mark (2001). ShermanFirefly. Barbarossa Books. p...
result, the up-gunned Sherman was designated as the Sherman M-50. The M-50 was similar to the WWII-era British ShermanFirefly tank in that it possessed...
armoured fighting vehicle to carry the 17-pounder gun, behind the ShermanFirefly tank. The name "Achilles" was officially a designation applied to both...
destroyed either by a British medium tank, the up-gunned ShermanFirefly, or a standard 75mm-equipped Sherman. The 75mm's armour piercing round was more than enough...
Division. The British ShermanFirefly was the most successful of these, incorporating the Ordnance QF 17-pounder into the Sherman's chassis. It was effective...
including the American Lend-Lease scheme and hybrid weapons such as the ShermanFirefly as well as the British Tube Alloys nuclear weapons research project...
pounder-armed ShermanFirefly or Challenger, both of which could destroy Panthers and Tigers at standard combat distances. Cromwells (and 75mm-armed Shermans) were...
of Shermans by British tanks—about 50% of Shermans in British service were Fireflies. The ShermanFirefly, however, is not considered a tank destroyer...
tanks were well within range. Ekins, the gunner of Sergeant Gordon's ShermanFirefly (called Velikiye Luki, as A Squadron's tanks were named after towns...
rapidly construct thousands of relatively cheap M4 Sherman medium tanks. A compromise all round, the Sherman was reliable and formed a large part of the Anglo-American...
Churchill with the same 17 pounder that the ShermanFirefly, a British modification of the American M4 Sherman, on a Churchill chassis and turret. It was...
large numbers of US M4 Sherman tanks, an extemporaneous conversion of the Sherman to take a 17-pounder (as the ShermanFirefly) proved effective in providing...
was used in the film Fury), M3 Grant, T-34, Panther, DD Sherman, Churchill Mk VII, ShermanFirefly, M48 Patton, T-72, T-62 and Challenger 2. The Memorial...
Gorman commandeered a Firefly, Ballymena, whose commander had been killed and continued to fire at the Tiger tank with the Firefly's 17-pounder gun until...
Europe supported their 75 mm gunned Shermans with 17-pounder armed ShermanFireflies. The first 76-mm-armed Shermans started to reach Red Army units in...
Sherman III, later also M4 Sherman I, M4 Sherman IC Firefly, M4A1 Sherman II and M4A3 (105) HVSS Sherman IVBY.) M4 Sherman I medium tank (The Sherman...
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